[Cob] topsoil

[Janet Standeford]

Thank you Ed. First for the ratios and secondly for the term "rock dust" 
which may get me the sand cheaper than asking for reject sand. I'll 
check both and see what they look like early this week. They are 
probably closed tomorrow but I'll try anyway.

The other options I have are the cinder pit and the gravel pit. I can 
get it free at both places but one is a few miles away while the cinder 
is up the hill about a mile or two at the most.

Is broken cinder as good as sand? Remember, I'm looking at soil that is 
probably nearly all clay if I dig out the little valleys which I would 
like to do anyway to line for ponds. I'll have the soil tested for the 
proper content ratios. When dry, the soil here is a beautiful red.

Then again, I will go out in a minute and dig up some from the little 
hills and see if there is a more balanced mix as well.

I especially appreciate knowing that the walls may shrink top to bottom 
as well as side to side and by approx how much. I'll measure my test 
blocks wet and dry on each to measure that according to mix ratio.

Another question: Is there a quick and easy way to separate sand from 
debris? The creek needs cleaning out anyway and it has a lot of sand. Do 
you think there would be enough sand in a two or three foot by 800 - 900 
foot area?

http://www.onlinechristiancenter.com/wordpress is the blog I'm using. 
Most of my communications with the list and individually will show up there.